The Checkout - Live at Berklee: Matthew Stevens Quintet

Presented by Berklee, NPR Music, and WBGO FM, The Checkout - Live at Berklee, brings critically acclaimed alumni back to their alma mater for intimate concerts at Cafe 939. The series continues on Wednesday, April 2, with guitarist Matthew Stevens and his quintet, featuring Gerald Clayton (piano), Vicente Archer (bass), and fellow alumni Eric Doob (drums) and Paulo Stagnaro (percussion).

The Checkout - Live at Berklee: Matthew Stevens Quintet will be webcast live in HD video at nprmusic.org and airs in New York on WBGO 88.3 FM. It will also be archived for on-demand listening at NPR Music and checkoutjazz.org. The concert and broadcast start at 8:00 p.m. Tickets, $10 for the public/$5 with a Berklee ID, are available at cafe939.com. Cafe 939 is located at 939 Boylston Street, Boston, Massachusetts, and is wheelchair accessible. For more information, call 617 747-2261.

Here is a video from the event:

Video of The Matt Stevens Quintet, &quot;Sunday&quot;- The Checkout- live at Berklee

One of the brightest guitarists of his generation, Stevens will soon be releasing his debut album on Concord Records. Over the past decade, he has performed and recorded with some of the finest contemporary musicians, including Christian Scott, Victor Bailey, Jason Moran, Jeff Lorber, Esperanza Spalding, Sean Jones, Walter Smith III, Terri Lyne Carrington, and Dr. Lonnie Smith. Stevens’s playing has been applauded in publications worldwide, including The New York Times, Downbeat, Jazz Times, Billboard, The Los Angeles Times, and All About Jazz.

During his time at Berklee, Stevens studied with many renowned artists such as Joe Lovano, Pat Metheny, Mick Goodrick, Wayne Krantz, David Samuels, and Hal Crook. While still a student, he performed with such jazz luminaries as Gary Burton, Abe Laboriel, George Duke, and Lalah Hathaway. Stevens graduated summa cum laude in 2004 and was awarded the Guitar Department's highest honor, the Jimi Hendrix Award.

He has toured extensively in the U.S., Canada, Europe, Japan, South Africa, and South America, performing at some of the best jazz festivals, including Montreux, North Sea, Newport, Montreal, Monterey, Fujitsu, New Orleans Jazz, and Heritage, and at renowned venues such as the Hollywood Bowl, the Kennedy Center, the Blue Note clubs, and the Moscow International Music House.

Stevens is a member of the adjunct faculty at the New School and has taught at the Maryland Summer Jazz Workshop and at Berklee’s Guitar Week. He is from Toronto, Canada, and currently resides in New York.